The Velvet Forum

Hey all,

I recently picked up this nice original pressing of Chelsea Girl on eBay because I couldn't resist the sticker affixed to the shrinkwrap: only 57 cents!!!

I noticed right away that the label misidentifies "These Days" as "These Girls". I don't think I have ever heard of this particular error. I know the original mono pressing (this one's stereo) listed "These Days" as "I've Been Out Walking", but this is new to me. My other '67 pressing (also stereo) has the correct title.

There is very little info out there on the various pressings of Chelsea Girl, at least in comparison to all the info that's out there for the Banana Album. I imagine this particular error will come down to East Coast vs. West Coast pressings, or something similar.

Here's some pics...enjoy!

Would it be too much to ask for the matrix info - including descriptions of any symbols in the deadwax you may see?

Side one's matrix has:

V6-5032 SIDE-1 MGS-1066 REV.

And side two has:

V6-5032 SIDE-2 MGS-1066 REV.

I'd say that's an earlier pressing than the one on DISCOGS: http://www.discogs.com/Nico-Chelsea-Gir ... se/3507263

MJG196 wrote:I'd say that's an earlier pressing than the one on DISCOGS: http://www.discogs.com/Nico-Chelsea-Gir ... se/3507263

Yep, looks to be. The matrix on the second side has been revised to have the number 1067 (instead of 1066) and has RE-1 added on to it.

Looks like I need to add this copy to Discogs. That will be a first for me. I've edited/updated entries there, but I've never been in possession of a variant that didn't exist there already. (That I know of, anyway. I imagine there's some more pressings in my vinyl collection that don't have an entry.)

leamanc wrote:Yep, looks to be. The matrix on the second side has been revised to have the number 1067 (instead of 1066) and has RE-1 added on to it.

Does that RE-1 mean 1st repress? Reissue? I am not a deadwax expert...

I posted a comment on the above-referenced entry that it is in fact a second pressing at the earliest.

MJG196 wrote: Does that RE-1 mean 1st repress? Reissue? I am not a deadwax expert...
I posted a comment on the above-referenced entry that it is in fact a second pressing at the earliest.

I would guess that, yes, that's what it means -- first repress, first revision, or something similar. My thought is that the copy I just got was the very first pressing, and the discogs copy is the second, with the fixed song title.

But I'm hesitant to say that's the case for sure, with so little documentation on Chelsea Girl available. It's going to require some more investigation to verify the speculation. If anyone else has some early copies for some comparison, some info on your labels/matrix info would be appreciated!

Nice find leamang!
I'm a Nico collector myself and the pics of the Chelsea LP shown at discogs are from my copy. So i got curious after seeing your pics of a different label copy here and searched popsike a lil bit.
Did you notice the different label design? Credit names in brackets are written with the sur-name on your copy and it seems they're in a darker shade of blue, too. And there's a different diameter circular indent in the label area which makes it a westcoast Waddell pressing imo.There were auctions similar to your label before as listed on popsike. But the promo copies have the label design shown at discogs. http://www.popsike.com/NicoChelsea-Girl ... 22536.html. Since promo copies are usually the first pressings it seems to me it's a matter of different pressing plants (west / east coast) but i could be wrong.
See also the discussion here:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/v ... 0s.267120/
The Mother Of Inventions LP "Freak Out" is listed with 2 different matrix numbers at discogs, too, both of them first presses.
However, the misprinted label makes your copy a nice collectable item and deep-grooved west-coast pressings like Waddell or Monarch are known for the best sound quality.

Any further information is very welcome!

Purple Lips wrote:Nice find leamang!
I'm a Nico collector myself and the pics of the Chelsea LP shown at discogs are from my copy. So i got curious after seeing your pics of a different label copy here and searched popsike a lil bit.
Did you notice the different label design? Credit names in brackets are written with the sur-name on your copy and it seems they're in a darker shade of blue, too. And there's a different diameter circular indent in the label area which makes it a westcoast Waddell pressing imo.There were auctions similar to your label before as listed on popsike. But the promo copies have the label design shown at discogs. http://www.popsike.com/NicoChelsea-Girl ... 22536.html. Since promo copies are usually the first pressings it seems to me it's a matter of different pressing plants (west / east coast) but i could be wrong.
See also the discussion here:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/v ... 0s.267120/
The Mother Of Inventions LP "Freak Out" is listed with 2 different matrix numbers at discogs, too, both of them first presses.
However, the misprinted label makes your copy a nice collectable item and deep-grooved west-coast pressings like Waddell or Monarch are known for the best sound quality.

Any further information is very welcome!

Holy shit, Purple...I am really envious of you guys with so much knowledge in the area of vinyl/pressing/plant info! I wish this stuff could be found in a book!

Hey Purple Lips, thanks for the info! I was figuring West Coast vs. East Coast pressings would be the key factor in identifying the provenance of this record. I knew from research on the Banana album that one of the pressings had the surnames of the songwriters listed, and the others didn't. But, it seems, Banana album pressings had at least a few more clues to the pressing plant -- IIRC, something like "manufactured in Hollywood" or something along those lines for West Coast pressings.

A couple of things to add:

1.) I made a typo on the matrix info for side two. It has '1067' instead of '1066' (as on side one).
2.) I looked at my other '67 pressing, and it has the same "These Girls" mistake and the same matrix info! I can't believe I didn't notice this before, but buying this copy has been a bit of a sore spot for me. I paid $75 for it on eBay, listed as "VG+" vinyl, and it is so scuffed that it is unlistenable. Of course, it was sold "as-is" and the seller did nothing to rectify the situation. So I just put this copy up and ignored it. The copy I have with correct titles is a much later pressing, and I was thinking of it when I said I had another '67 pressing with the correct titles.

So I've had a copy of this album with the same typo and matrix info in my house for a long time and didn't even know it!

Purple Lips, thanks for all the info. I don't know what other info I can post to be of help here, but I'd be willing to send you my scratched copy for your Nico collection, and for you to inspect further. I haven't tried running the record through my Discwasher, as it sounded so awful that I thought there was no hope for it (and like I said, I was so peeved about the bad purchase that I put it up and tried to forget about it), so I didn't bother with trying to clean it, but there may be some hope for it. Send me a PM and I'll arrange to get it shipped to you.